Vivisection
by Reality Inhibited
Summary: ...a pair of emotionless blue eyes regarding him with the detachment of a scientist about to perform a dissection... "There's nothing more beautiful than the human body, don't you agree... Axel?" -Don't read if squeamish-Title changed by suggestion-


His sight cleared, slowly. He felt coarse rope being tightly bound around his wrists, his ankles, pinning him to the cold surface of the table. He heard the metal creak as someone climbed up to settle across his hips, pinning him down. His head was still spinning from the blow that had sent him reeling, but he could make out a splash of metallic, blue-grey hair, blending with the rough stone of the ceiling, a pair of emotionless blue eyes regarding him with the detachment of a scientist about to perform a dissection. Then the glittering blade of a scalpel came into view, and he realised just how right that thought was.

"There's nothing more beautiful than the human body, don't you agree... Axel?"

That soft, menacing voice was all too familiar, and far too close for comfort.

"Zexion...?"

The eyes gleamed in the dim light cast by the single bare bulb, their owner leaning in until their noses were barely an inch apart. His breath was warm, the coppery smell of blood still lingering on it. Cloudy blue met vibrant green as the two regarded each other, one calm and collected, the other fragmented, terrified and confused.

Then Zexion leaned backwards, settling his weight back across Axel's hips. The scalpel slid down the front of his shirt, opening it up and revealing the pale skin beneath, small beads of blood welling up from the shallow scratch the blade left behind. The shirt was brushed to the side, the knife returning to trace that thin cut, deepening it, allowing the blood to flow freely, collecting in pools on the metal surface of the table. Axel bit back a whimper, his thoughts coalescing around one thing: don't let him see you scared.

Zexion wiped the rivulets of blood away with the corner of the discarded shirt, smiling that disturbing smile that had freaked Axel out the day they met. Blank, unfeeling, a mockery of contentment, concealing a disturbed mind. The scalpel plunged deeper, eliciting a startled cry from the pinned boy as it scraped across his sternum, slicing through the flesh as easily as a knife through butter.

"S-stop!"

The blue eyed boy smiled again, raising the blade and licking the blood off it, taking care not to cut his tongue on the razor-like edge. "Where's the fun in that...?" He said, lowering the scalpel again and cutting as deep as the small blade would allow, all the way through the skin. Axel screamed, all thoughts of defiance forgotten. "You're insane!"

"Perhaps."

The blood was wiped away from the wound, and the blade started tracing another across Axel's abdomen, at right angles to the first. The skin started to peel away slightly, so Zexion placed his hand over it, shaking his head. His hand was cool, the pressure from his hand forcing more blood to well up from the incisions, making the skin slick and warm. The silver-haired youth leaned forward, adding more pressure and leaning in closer to his victim's face. Another cut joined the two already there, this time across Axel's chest, just below his collarbone. Another scream burst out, trailing off in a string of sobs, tears running down his face and joining the blood on the table. He would have recognised the pattern of incisions, had his mind not been clouded with more pain than he thought possible.

With a sickening sound, Zexion peeled the skin gently back from the wounds, opening up the body cavity, muscle tearing as it caught. The scalpel slit through any tissue holding the skin in place with ease, the once-silver blade covered in blood and gore. The erratic screams joined into one continuous shriek, bloodcurdling and terrible in its intensity. The boy smiled his blank smile, running his fingers gingerly over the glistening, pulsing organs and muscles, all surfaces slippery with blood and other body fluids, their surfaces laced with blood vessels. The ribcage obscured the pounding heart, its beat forcing blood through the ruptured arteries, that throbbing driving the precious liquid from his body to spill over the table and onto the floor, smearing over the hands of the intruder and the blade he carried.

Those blue eyes closed, a thrill of pleasure running through the thin frame, a genuine smile gracing his lips as he ran his fingers over the exposed ribs, wiping away blood, the white bone startlingly bright against the dull reds and browns of the organs. He could feel the beating of the boy's heart, could feel an echo of that ebb and flow through his own body. It was beautiful, he thought, reaching to one side where a pair of garden clippers lay, their handles and blades polished smooth and spotlessly clean. He flicked the catch and they sprang open with a metallic click that drove Axel to open an eye, letting the silver-haired torturer catch a glimpse of the agony and terror gripping his mind, threatening to break and shatter it into a million irreparable pieces.

Zexion put one hand on the ribcage, setting the teeth of the shears to one of the ribs, blocking out the incessant screaming that rose a full octave when the unforgiving metal touched exposed flesh. He squeezed the handles. There was a muted crack, the bone of the rib splintering under the blades, the break drawing another piercing howl from the body's unfortunate owner, met with another genuine smile.

The ribs were cut, one by one, as easily as green branches under the teeth of the garden shears. Slivers of bloody bone littered the smooth surface of the lungs as the entire structure was lifted away with care, more muscles being severed under the scalpel to allow for easier removal. The heart lay exposed, nestled between the lungs, pumping the last of the blood in the boy's body out to flood the floor. Zexion didn't notice, or didn't care, when Axel's body started shaking, his screams dying away to hoarse sobs, his once-brilliant green eyes rolling back in his head, dull and lifeless. The blue-eyed boy leant his weight back, keeping the body still as it twitched, his dreamy smile widening as he reached out to touch the stilling heart, his fingers stroking its surface with reverence. He raised the scalpel one last time, slicing through the veins and arteries connecting it to the rest of the body, lifting the fist-sized organ in his hands, holding it like it was a precious jewel that could break at the slightest touch.

After a moment, he laid the heart back in its nest, replacing the ribcage gently and smoothing the blood-soaked skin back over the still organs. He reached over and selected a fine needle and thread from his collection of tools, threading the needle and stitching up the gaping wound, his movements neat and concise. The blood was then mopped up to the best of his ability and poured down the sink in the bathroom next door, washed away to oblivion. He licked the last smears from his hands before rinsing them of the taint, the sickening, metallic taste working its way down his throat. He smiled, untying the wrists and ankles of his victim and draping a clean white blanket over the corpse, hiding the pale face and seeping wounds from the sight of any intruders. He changed clothing and tucked the old ones in the closest trash can as he walked home, that content, dreamy smile never once leaving his face.

* * *

Because Zexion wanted revenge. AU, I guess, since, you know, this never happened. Based on one of the creepiest dreams I've ever had. I edited it a bit. Originally, it was gonna have Ienzo or Riku there too, but not anymore.


End file.
